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Undertale

Description official descriptions

Years after a devastating war between humans and monsters, a child has fallen through a hole and into the monsters' underground world. Under the care of a kindly monster woman named Toriel, they learn the basics of the underground world, including that they may be attacked by other monsters who are less friendly. After the child leave's Toriel's care, it's up to them how they proceed through the underground, including whether they kill the monsters in their way or try to find peaceful resolutions to conflict.

Undertale is an Eastern RPG with some action aspects in its combat system. In the overworld, the player explores areas, solves puzzles, and talks to NPCs. When a battle is triggered, typically through random encounter, the game switches to the combat screen. A heart representing the child's soul appears in a small box, in which objects representing the monsters' attacks appear and must be dodged in real time. On the child's turn, they can attack monsters more directly through the fight command. A meter that determines the strength of the player's attack must be hit with good timing in order to deal more damage.

Alternatively, players may choose to perform friendly actions in battle or show mercy to the opponent in order to resolve conflict without bloodshed. It is possible to finish every encounter in the game without killing anyone, though some monsters are more difficult to do this with than others. The player may need to perform certain actions in the overworld before some monsters can be befriended.

Although only one Undertale save file can be kept at a time, the game remembers certain player actions across playthroughs, mainly in reference to how violent or peaceful they were. Resetting to an earlier save or starting a new game after specific actions are taken can affect how some NPCs treat the player and how the story is ultimately resolved.

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Credits (Windows version)

938 People (40 developers, 898 thanks) · View all

Undertale by
Logo Design
Cutscene Artist
Overworld Artist + Animator (Area 1, 2, 3)
Shop Artist (Area 2, 3)
Tile Artist (Area 2)
Tile Artist (Area 3, 4)
Hypertester
Main BG Artist
Assistant Monster Designer
Original Temmie Monster Sketch
Extra Art and Testing
Photoshop Flowey Battle Co-design
Programming Help
Other Monster Designs
Guitar
Bratty & Catty Help
Japanese Localization
  • 8-4 Ltd.
Producer
Coordinator
Translator
[ full credits ]

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Trivia

Reused and Remixed Audio

Some songs and other audio clips in the game originated from other projects that lead developer Toby Fox has worked on. Perhaps most notably, the boss theme "Megalovania" was composed by Fox for an EarthBound ROM hack he made in his teens, and was later remixed for the webcomic Homestuck. Flowey's laughter also originated in the comic, where it was used for the character Caliborn. Lastly, the track "Fallen Down" was composed for I Miss You, a tribute album made using EarthBound's soundfont.

Sans and Papyrus Inspiration

Two of the game's major characters are Sans and Papyrus, a pair of skeletons named after the fonts their dialogue is rendered in. This is reminiscent of the webcomic Helvetica, in which the eponymous protagonist is a skeleton who shares his name with a font. The comic's author, J.N. Wiedle, is indeed listed in the credits as having provided inspiration for the characters.

Awards

  • GameFAQs' Best. Game. Ever. vote winner (2015):
    • 57.82% in the final vs. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
    • 51.2% in the semifinal vs. Super Smash Bros. Melee
    • 51.33% in the quarterfinal vs. Super Mario 64
    • 51.52% in the division III final vs. Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow/Green Version
    • 54.84% in round 3 vs. Super Mario World
    • 55.74% in round 2 vs. Fallout 3
    • 50.95% in round 1 vs. Mass Effect 3
  • The Game Awards 2015
    • Best Independent Game, Nominated
  • The Dragon Awards – Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC/Console Game (2016):
    • Nominated
  • Steam Awards
    • 2016 — The 'I’m Not Crying, There’s Something In My Eye' Award — Nominated
    • 2017 — The 'Best Soundtrack' Award — Nominated
  • Comics Gaming Magazine
    • Game of the Year, 2015
  • IGN
    • PC Game of the Year, 2015
  • Zero Punctuation
    • Game of the Year, 2015
    • Best Game of the 2010s

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 74938

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Harmony♡.

PS Vita, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Windows Apps added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. Linux, Xbox Cloud Gaming, PlayStation Now added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: JudgeDeadd, Utritum, Cavalary.

Game added September 27th, 2015. Last modified March 6th, 2023.